Aro

I'm organizing another mapping contest for Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge called Cartographers Call Competition II (Obviously following after the original Cartographers Call Competition). This is entirely different from any Open Map Competition, especially by its rules. First of all, only skirmish maps made from scratch and never revealed anywhere are accepted and terrain expansion maps are NOT allowed. The maps will be reviewed by 3 judges (Aro, Ixith, Dudeinabox). Mappers may only submit one map. Rules are the same as they were in the previous competition. For additional Information on the rules, judging and prizes go to this thread. This contest does not have any symmetry restriction, which means that you may submit tournament looking maps. Each map can be rated up to 100 points, where they'll be distributed in the following way: 20 points for Detail 20 points for Layout 20 points for Lighting 20 points for Game play 20 points for Triggers. You have until the 15th of Februrary to submit your map. Good luck and for more details, check the rules of the contest. Please post comments in the competition thread!

It seems I'm seriously busy recently. My social life eating up most of my free time, helping Strike-Team with the QM Patch, Twisted Insurrection and of course my recent hiring as a Moderator and promoter of the CNCGuild, not to mention all the things I do for PPM, but as always, I'm still doing what I can for this community whenever I get the chance. PPM Mod Updates: - Gangster has announced the rebirth of his mod Tiberian Sun: ReWire over at the Sandbox forums. There is no Mod called Sandbox, but the forum is home to many of Gangster's projects such as TS:ReWire and Red Alert II. Anyhow, ReWire is a total conversion mod turning Yuri's Revenge into Tiberian Sun with stunning graphics, so far it looks very promising with some excellent models made by both Gangster and DonutArnold. - Reaperrr has anounced that he has decided to work on Return of the Dawn 2.8 again for the time being. - I (Aro) have posted many new terrain images in the Twisted Insurrection forums. These new terrain pieces are remakes of old Twisted Insurrection terrain and a few before-and-after shots comparing TI's terrain to the Tiberian Sun terrain. Check it out in this thread. I have also posted a thread asking you, the public to vote for what you'd like to see as Twisted Insurrection's third theater. Go to this thread to cast your vote and give an opinion. - The Dawn of the Tiberium Age had a recent release (as previously posted here) which means more screenshots and media are popping up for people to view. Bittah Commander has announced progress on a new DTA patch which should be posted public some time soon, keep your eyes open. - DaFool has posted some progress on the Red Alert 2 Allies for Invasion Confirmed, the Generals mod that features every Red Alert faction in history! Check out the Red Alert 2 Allies thread here. Hopefully we'll be seeing the rocketeers fully functioning soon. CNCGuild Mod Updates: - SSTG has posted some updates over at the Dark Rising forums. This RA2 enhancement mod looks interesting and I'd suggest giving it a look at if you're interested in mods such as AG:SA. - Allied General has posted some new Media and Miscellaneous Information for his semi-total conversion mod, AG:SA (Allied General's: Shattered Alliance). The new media features new voxels used in the mod along with new GUI made by myself, Starkku, OmegaBolt and others. Be sure to check out it, it's a blast online! - Some old news not necessarily related to a mod. Mig Eater posted lots of new voxels up for download over at the CnCGuild's Voxels and SHP's section. Be sure to check them out, these high quality voxels can spice up the graphics of any mod.

Bump. I decided to enter Arden River in the Quick Match Patch map competition to try and get it as an official map for Red Alert 2 online, and it's in with a good chance. I did however have to make some drastic edits, so I'll include both versions here. The second download also contains a .MPR version and a .YRM version. Arden River QuickMatch Edition: (Click to view map in actual size) Download Arden River QM Editionl

It's better than the real thing to be honest.

Firstly, shrink the C&C part of the logo significantly so the mod name is much larger, that's the part of the logo that you want the attention drawn to. As for making it less Generic, just try something new rather than a typical C&C-looking logo. The redux text stamped on top of the mod logo itself is quite a good effect so you should keep that, try a different text other than the over-used Tiberium Font and a different texture.

Bittah Commander has released The Dawn of the Tiberium 1.10! This new version includes much more than previous versions such as an enhanced game mode, additional mapping terrain, tons of bug fixes, removal of most placeholders and of course generic gameplay enhancements. DTA is one of my personal favorite Tiberian Sun mods and I highly reccomend it to everyone. Check out the DTA website for information on the mod itself, or go here to the DTA forums on PPMSite. Download thread on PPM can be found here and of course you can also download the mod from the DTA site on this page. The Dawn of the Tiberium Age (v1.10) trailer You can view more media at this page. Again in-case you missed them: Download thread on PPM can be found here and of course you can also download the mod from the DTA site on this page.

Looks like Photoshop, PSP and Gimp have similar effects and filters. That's new to me, I only use Photoshop for image editing.

Try sending him a PM instead, like me he rarely checks his emails. As for the logos themselves, other than what I've already said I'm just not fond of how generic they are for a logo, they look like every other typical primary mod logo, a bit of change and something to make yours stand out from the crowd would be more to my liking. That, and don't use stock Photoshop effects and textures, try something yourself other than filters . Also, the C&C part of the logo should be at least half the size of the mod name itself.

What a creepy coincidence, yesterday I was going to post a topic regarding a new Mod logo for TDR but changed my mind cause I thought you were happy with the current one. I hate irony (not the guy here ). I don't like either of them to be honest mate, you can see which Photoshop effect was used on each one and they don't match the quality as that of the mod and neither do the loading screens in my opinion. You should ask CCHyper for a new logo, he made Twisted Insurrection's. He even offered to make one for you in your TDR thread on PPM, but I assume you missed his post. I advise you to take up his offer, he's a talented Individual.

The font isn't part of the sidebar itself, that's just Red Alert 2's stupid system...

The download includes both a .MPR version and a .YRM version. Update Janurary 13th: I decided to enter Arden River in the Quick Match Patch map competition to try and get it as an official map for Red Alert 2 online, and it's in with a good chance. I did however have to make some drastic edits, so I'll include both versions here. The second download also contains a .MPR version and a .YRM version. Arden River Original: (Click to view map in actual size) Download Arden River Original Arden River QuickMatch Edition: (Click to view map in actual size) Download Arden River QM Editionl

Spotlighted! Definitely worthy of the shift, sorry for the delay Mr. Flibble.

Very nice map, the bases are too close together for my liking though.

You know, I never thought about it but I should really consider doing some generals GUI. At least they don't have the limited palette problem like TD, RA, TS and RA2. I'd consider an engine shift for that reason alone.

If you have any suggestions, please give me some I've alredy replaced all of the horrible SMF smiles after all. Why not simply use the same pack that Revora/TiberiumWeb did? They have a huge variety and they look good too.

Congratulations Myers, and thanks for the mention Tore!

I have tried to recover it for TI's new terrain but it doesn't blend as well, it had some particular layers to match that clear LAT. I reckon if I dug at it for a good hour I could get it looking alright on the new clear. I'm definitely going to give it a go when I finish off the new roads anyhow.

Thanks! Makes it more depressing that I lost the PSD file though.

It seems we don't have a section for in-game GUI (which we really should do IMO :ranting:) I'll post this here. Here's a sidebar I made for an old mod a long time ago, it's not being used anywhere and it's just collecting dust so I figure I may aswell release it. Special Thanks to Hyper for the Star on the radar screen, loading screen and pause screen. I'm not bothered what you do with it so long as I am given proper credit. Also, I will not be editing this sidebar again as I don't have the PSD for it anymore. Also note that these were made for a Total Conversion project originally, so their style differs greatly from that of RA2 material. sidec01.rar

I created this for Twisted Insurrection, but decided not to use it in the end. The building was intent to be a capturable civilian power plant, but I'm not bothered what you decide to do with it so long as you give me proper credit. Comes with damage frame and shadow frames and Rules & Art code. There is a Readme in the download, be sure to read it. Civilian_Power_Station.zip

Hey guys. I figure I'd get back into my role as a Global Moderator here. I started by clearing out the old information threads I created and editing the posts into completely new ones containing extra information and links. I've also posted some of my useful things from elsewhere here for those of you that are unfamiliar with PPM. Also, for the love of God, get rid of the ugly MSN smilies, the TiberiumWeb ones are better.

This isn't exactly a tutorial but it is useful information to all TS modders, especially those whom are new to the scene. Tiberian Sun doesn't allow you to create any foundation that you please to fit your new building/object, it has a select few that you have to chose from, some buildings such as Tiberium Refineries have to have a specific foundation in order to function properly, the same applies for structures like war factories*. The foundations TS allows are: 0x0 6x4 3x4 4x4 5x3 2x5 2x6 1x5 1x4 4x3 3x1 1x3 3x3Refinery 4x2 3x5 3x3 3x2 2x3 2x2 1x2 2x1 1x1 *War factories can be of any foundation, but it is recommended to use 4x3 as graphical errors can occur while the unit is leaving the structure.

Tools Required: XCC Mixer, Photoshop, OSHPBuilder. Making your own custom billboards is actually really easy though it looks like a pretty complicated thing to do. If you want to make your own custom billboards, this tutorial should give you a good understanding on how to do it (You need some basic Photoshop knowledge). This is my personal favorite method for performing this task, a lot of people prefer other methods but I find this one much easier, moving along Step 1: Start by opening your XCC Mixer >> TIBSUN.MIX >> ISOTEMP.MIX and then extract a Billboard. Open the billboard up in the OSHPBuilder so now you have all four frames set and ready (Your healthy state, damaged state and the shadow frames). Once you've done this, remember to set the correct palette and Zoom level, then take a screen shot of the Billboard and crop it in MS Paint or some other program. If you don't want to take a screen shot etc. You can use this billboard base: Step 2: Once you've got a billboard base to work with, Open up Photoshop and open your billboard base. Remember: Get an image you want to put on the billboard. Once you've got your billboard set up and the image you'd like to put on the billboard, Scale the image down so it'll fit the billboard. Step 3: Now that you've done that, copy and paste your scaled down image onto the billboard base, but remember to paste it as a new layer, not merged. Once done, move it into position and fix up any scaling errors there may be. Step 4: Now that your image is scaled down correctly, its time to put it into the correct perspective. Go to the perspective tool in Photoshop and move your image around so it fits the billboard perfectly, if you can't get it right, just get it as close as possible and touch up your billboard In Photoshop afterwards. Step 5: Once your happy with your billboard in Photoshop (And are certain that you're happy about it) merge the layers together, then select the whole of the billboard (and the blue background (This is required if you're using IsoTem.pal)). Now you go back to OSHPBuilder where the billboard you extracted (and is in the correct palette) should be, select it and hit CTRL and V, your billboard image from Photoshop should be pasted into the OSHPBuilder now. Don't forget to make sure your billboard is centered and aligned to the grid properly. Step 6: Now touch up the damage frames and the shadow frames in OSHPBuilder so it matches your image on the healthy frame. Once done save your billboard. If you've followed this tutorial correctly your billboard should be in the correct position, which will avoid positioning and shadow errors (which is why I you should use the billboard extracted from TIBSUN.mix as a base and my image above as your Photoshop base). Once done, put your billboards in-game and enjoy. If you don't know how to put things In-game, look up XCC Mixing. (In the picture above, the palette you can see is NOT the palette set for the billboards, use Isotem.pal) - Aro

Over the months, I've had a lot of new mappers adding me on MSN and even Myspace asking me for help and tips on some of the simplest things ever. Because a lot of the things can be fixed and done really easily and I'm tired of having to repeat myself over and over again, I've put together this new Tips index, which contains a lot more useful tips and help (there are also some older tips written by TitanMarkII). I guarantee that most of the mappers on here already know everything that I've added to the Tips index, because they are simple things, as stated above. These new tips are mainly for the newer mappers, and now, whenever I get the pesky little kid who adds me on Myspace or MSN asking me about mapping, I'll just direct them to this topic. If you feel there are some tips that'd be good to add, do let me know and I'll put them in. To get these working in FinalSun, just drag and drop the file into your FinalSun folder. You can download these new FinalSun Tips Here. - Aro

Nice work my boy. All your hard work into building CnC-Comm is admirable.